The younger brother of the First Emperor

Chapter 156 The Difficulty of Water Control
As soon as Ying Chengjiao heard the commander talking about the waters of Chu State, he knew what he wanted to say next.

Lu Buwei picked up the teacup and drank some water to moisten his throat.

The young man spoke up and said:

“Don’t even mention the time when there were hundreds of kingdoms. The Chu Kingdom is also very large now, and its area is even larger than that of the Qin Kingdom.

"The State of Chu became the hegemon of the world as early as the reign of King Zhuang of Chu, and has not experienced any major disasters since then.

"It was not like the State of Jin, which was divided among three states; it was not like the State of Qin, which was on the verge of extinction because of the Wei Wuzu; it was not like the State of Qi, which was attacked by five states and left with only two cities.

"The biggest defeat was when the capital was captured by Wu'an Jun, but that was still a long way from destroying the country.

“The Chu State has such a large territory and has not suffered any major blows, but it has never been able to regain its dominant position.

"In addition to the national conditions of Chu, the excessive amount of water in its territory is also an extremely important factor.

"The mountains in Chu State blocked the waterways, and the rivers and lakes collided with each other, resulting in frequent floods. Human power was far from enough to control them, and the floods were even worse than those in Bashu.

"The water towns and marshes became desolate fishing and hunting areas. The idea of ​​increasing water resources was not applicable to the Chu State. There were very few fertile agricultural lands that could accumulate wealth stably, and most of them were concentrated in the Jianghuai area.

“The complex waters are a natural barrier for the Chu State, but also a swamp that restricts the Chu State’s progress.

"When I passed through the State of Chu, I heard that Huang Xie, Lord of Chu, wanted the King of Chu to give him a fiefdom. In addition to seeking personal gain, he also wanted to control the water and strengthen the country's strength."

Lu Buwei was very pleased. Everyone likes a disciple who can understand things quickly. Which teacher doesn’t like a student who studies well?
Just as he was about to continue speaking, thinking about what his disciples had just said about the king and ministers of Chu, he suddenly had an idea and had some realization.

Whenever his disciples arrived at a place, they did not go sightseeing, but observed the king, ministers, and national conditions...

This behavior makes him more and more like a wise ruler.

The wiser the monarch, the more ruthless he is.

He was just worried that his disciple was too gentlemanly, but suddenly he thought that his disciple should be more gentlemanly... at least more gentlemanly to him, Lu Buwei.

Because the two words "Zheng State" and "water control" put together mean much more than the disciples had imagined.

The look of relief on his face remained unchanged, but the words he said were not what he wanted to say at the beginning:
“What you said is correct, sir.

"The State of Chu is now showing signs of rejuvenation, thanks to the cooperation between the King of Chu and Huang Xie.

"I originally thought that Fan Ju was a loyal minister to the country because he helped King Zhaoxiang to gather power and get rid of the four nobles and proposed the national policy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones.

"In the end, he resigned from his post and died of worry and illness. King Zhaoxiang was so unkind.

"When I came to power in Qin, I found that Wu'an Jun died because of Fan Ju's slander, Zhao State survived because Fan Ju advocated the withdrawal of troops after the Battle of Changping, and even the revival of Chu State was due to Fan Ju.

"The current King of Chu and Chunshen Jun Huang Xie were originally held hostage in Qin State. It was Fan Ju's effort to persuade King Zhaoxiang that they could return to Chu. I really suspect that Fan Ju is a traitor.

"King Zhaoxiang not only did not kill Fan Ju, but also did not deprive him of his position as prime minister. Now it seems that he was truly merciful."

After talking about Fan Ju at this point, Lu Buwei paused for a moment, as if he realized that he had gone off track.

He smiled apologetically, pointed at his head in distress, and said:

“Don’t be surprised, sir.

“After becoming the prime minister, the official duties are heavy.

"As I age and my intelligence declines, I can't help but nag a little.

"Perhaps Fan Ju lost his mind because he had been the prime minister for so long."

Ying Chengjiao took a deep breath, then exhaled again, saying:

"Do teachers and students need to be secretive when speaking to each other?

“As long as you don’t rebel, even if the reform affects the interests of most of the Qin nobles, just like Shang Yang was in the past, I will do my best to protect your life.

"I would rather throw a tantrum in front of my father or brother than push out my teacher to appease the public anger. My teacher will definitely have a better life in his later years than Fan Ju."

Lu Buwei twitched the corners of his mouth, which meant that he had smiled, and he felt a little relieved.

He was apparently talking about Fan Ju, but actually he was talking about himself.

Whenever he thought about what he was about to do, he would feel as if a Qin sword was hanging over his head, ready to chop him in half at any time.

A hundred years ago, the State of Qin was trapped in the swamp of aristocratic families and was on the verge of extinction. Shang Yang's reforms were the way out of the swamp.

A hundred years later, times have changed.

In Lu Buwei's view, Shang Yang's laws, which once helped the Qin Dynasty prosper, became a new swamp that dragged down the Qin Dynasty.

The Qin State became the overlord because of Shang Yang's reforms, and the national policy he wanted to implement was to change Shang Yang's laws.

The resistance that Shang Yang encountered in his reforms came from a series of old families who occupied high positions and controlled power in the Qin State at that time.

However, there was resistance to Lu Buwei's reforms.

This resistance was caused by the Shang Jun Fa, a military force that held high positions in the Qin State. It was a group of brutal dragons that were nurtured by the weak young man named Shang Jun Fa!

Shang Yang succeeded in his reforms and was executed by being torn apart by five oxen.

It was not just Shang Yang. All the prime ministers who were not from the royal family and had made outstanding contributions to the Qin State throughout the dynasties had a hard time having a good ending.

Zhang Yi died in Wei, and Gan Mao fled to Qi.

Wei Ran died of sorrow and anger, Fan Ju died of fright, and Wei Zhe changed his name to Huangshi.

Only people like Cai Ze who are well versed in self-preservation could remain safe and sound, but he also resigned halfway through.

Now, Lu Buwei wanted to do something earth-shattering and he joined forces with Prince Chengjiao.

After the matter is accomplished, Prince Cheng Jiao, who comes from a royal family, will definitely be fine.

At first, Chu Li Ji and Gan Mao were the right and left prime ministers of the Qin State.

King Wu died while lifting a tripod, Gan Maoyuan fled to Qi, while Chu Li Ji stayed in Qin and continued to hold power and preside over the overall situation.

Same appearance, different fate.

Why?

Isn’t it because Chu Li Ji was the illegitimate son of Duke Xiao and had the surname Ying?

Lu Buwei knew what kind of person the king was.

Killing only Lu Buwei and not involving his three clans can be considered as respecting feelings.

If there was any way for Lu Buwei to survive, it was through Prince Chengjiao.

Today, as the opportunity arose, he demanded a promise.

This promise may be useful in a decade or so.

Or maybe, it will be useful soon...

Lü Buwei apologized and explained:

“Thank you, sir.

"Bu Wei shouldn't have been so evasive in his words. It was Bu Wei's fault.

“But this mistake cannot be corrected.

"Buwei is afraid that he is used to being straightforward with the young master, and if he continues to speak in the same way after returning to Xianyang, he will bring disaster upon himself."

Ying Chengjiao nodded helplessly:
"Disciple understands.

“Living in Xianyang is not easy.”

Given the general environment in the Qin State, what else could he say?

He can be more willful and not pay attention to details because of his good family background, but others cannot.

There was just one small problem he didn't understand.

Talking about water control, why is the commander suddenly worried about his life?
Water control is under the jurisdiction of Sikong. If something goes wrong, Sikong will be blamed. Can he kill the prime minister, the commander?
Lu Buwei collected his thoughts and said in a deep voice:
“With your promise, Bu Wei can continue.

"Huang Xie knew how to control floods and knew that the State of Chu was confined by water. Didn't the rulers and ministers of the State of Chu know this?
“No, they all know.

“If the other ministers did not treat the flood because it was not their own territory and they were selfish, then the King of Chu should have put flood control on the agenda long ago.

"Apart from the national conditions of Chu, the most important reason is what you just said, that its waters are more complex than those of Bashu." If we want to govern the entire region, there are few water engineers who can do it.

"To be precise, apart from Zheng Guo, who received the true teachings of King Yu, no water engineer dared to say that he could manage it, including Li Bing, the governor of Shu County in my Qin State."

Ying Chengjiao blinked:

"Then why not let Zheng Guozhi govern?"

He remembered that Zheng Guo had just said that he had been to Chu State and had always wanted to control floods, but no country dared to use his technology.

Lu Buwei was silent for a moment, then said in a muffled voice:
"Because Zheng State wants too many people and it will take too long."

Ying Chengjiao was puzzled.

It is common sense that flood control requires many people and many years.

This is the case even with the advent of machinery in modern times, not to mention the Warring States period when people basically relied entirely on manpower.

"Master, is this a reason?"

"...Dujiangyan has not been completed yet. Sir, do you know how long it has taken to build it? How many people were used?"

"My great-grandfather Wang held me in his arms to read Li Bing's memorial. It has been six years since then." The young man tried to recall, but he couldn't remember it. He said, "I only remember the year, but not the person."

The young man didn't remember, but Lü Buwei, who had just returned from Bashu, remembered it clearly:
“The Dujiangyan Irrigation Project has been going on for years, rain or shine.

"Not counting the soldiers, cooks, and laborers who transport food and fodder, these are just the people who do the work.

"To rotate and replace, there must be at least 10,000 practitioners."

Ying Chengjiao rolled his eyes:
“How many people can I be? Only 10,000.

"There are more than five million people registered in the Qin State. This is not a lot."

Lu Buwei discovered another shortcoming of his disciple, which was that he did not understand the people's sentiments well enough, and wanted to scold him.

When I saw the disciple's childish face, I remembered that according to the Qin calendar, the disciple was only seven years old.

A seven-year-old kid can travel around the world and stir up the world... If you don't know the people's sentiments, then you don't know.

"Well, these ten thousand are the people who do the work. If you count the people needed for the entire Dujiangyan project, there will be about 20,000 people."

"Twenty thousand people..." The young man tilted his head and thought for a moment: "It's not that many."

"...Sir, do you know how many soldiers are in Qin's standing army?"

Ying Chengjiao was indeed not very clear about this. His great-grandfather, who liked to take him to court, basically did not show him any memorials related to military affairs.

It doesn’t matter if he hasn’t seen it. He can make some calculations based on the war between Zhao and Yan, the memorials he has read, and the history he knows.

[Yan raised 600,000 troops to attack Zhao.]
[Zhao State had no male offspring, so they collected 130,000 men.]
[Li Xin first led 200,000 troops to attack Chu but was defeated, with 200,000 killed.]
[Wang Jian later led an army of 600,000 and successfully attacked Chu.]
[Yan, a weak country, could raise 600,000 soldiers, so there is no reason why Qin couldn’t do the same.]
[Considering the registered population of 5 million, 600,000 seems a bit much...]
[Emperor Wu of Han was very aggressive in his military campaign when he got one out of ten... My Qin State was also very warlike, so one out of ten was about the same...]
"Five hundred thousand?" the young man asked tentatively.

Lü Buwei did not keep anyone in suspense and said directly:

"One hundred thousand."

"One hundred thousand? So little?"

"My Qin State has the largest standing army among all the nations."

"No, no, Wang Jian told me that there are 100,000 people in the Lantian camp."

"There is only one Lantian Camp in Qin State. Lantian Camp is the only standing military camp in Qin State."

Ying Chengjiao: “…”

The young man really didn't expect that the Qin State had so few standing troops.

Lü Buwei and the other young men calmed down a little and said:
“My lord, if you want to build a standing army, don’t take the Battle of Changping and the Battle of Handan, where our Qin State deployed more than 400,000 troops, as a reference.

"Most of these soldiers were conscripted temporarily, and after the battle, they returned to their hometowns to farm.

“So it is with all the nations.

“In wartime, we serve as soldiers; when not in war, we serve as civilians.

“And Dujiangyan would require 20,000 men, which is equivalent to fighting a protracted battle with few casualties.

"Most of these 20,000 people are able-bodied men, and are an absolute labor force.

“They cannot cultivate the land, cannot farm, and have to consume food every day.

"I asked Shi Cang, the internal historian of grain, and he said that an average adult man needs 18 dan of grain per year.

"According to our most rough calculations, not counting the loss of food during transportation, these 20,000 people would need 360,000 shi of food per year.

“Before the Dujiangyan Irrigation System was completed, it was a complete waste and we got basically no return.

"That is to say, every year, our Qin State provides at least 20,000 laborers and 360,000 shi of grain just for the Dujiangyan project.

"The tiger of Zhao State opened its mouth wide, relying on the power and great victory of Qin State, it only dared to ask Yan State for 100,000 shi of grain.

"The Yan Xiang Jiang Qu would rather die for these 100,000 shi of grain. The whole Yan State hates Zhao State for these 100,000 shi of grain, but they have little hatred for our Qin State, which forced Jiang Qu to death.

"If Bu Wei said so, you should know whether the 20,000 people in Dujiangyan are too many or too few."

In his previous life, Ying Chengjiao was very good at mathematics since he was a child and was very sensitive to numbers.

After Lü Buwei's simple and easy-to-understand explanation, I immediately had a completely new understanding of Dujiangyan.

I know that water conservancy in reality is not like building water conservancy projects in games where you just click and wait for time to pass. It really requires a lot of manpower and resources.

He smiled bitterly and bowed gently:

“No wonder my great grandfather always said that he was worried about Dujiangyan.

"Just now I heard Master say that only 20,000 people are needed, and I thought there was nothing to worry about.

"This matter is too simple for my disciple."

Lu Buwei smiled and held up the young man with both hands:

"The 20,000 people in Dujiangyan already make my king worried. My lord, do you know how many people Zheng wants from Chu? And how many years will it take?"

Without waiting for the boy to answer, Lu Buwei gave the answer:

"It costs 100,000 yuan to do it, and it takes ten years to repair it."

"Fuck." The boy blurted out: "Is Zheng Guo crazy?"

There are 100,000 people doing the work, and the entire project costs at least 200,000.

Two hundred thousand people consume 3.6 million shi of grain a year, which means 36 million shi of grain in ten years.

The young man completely understood why no one used Zheng Guo. If he were the King of Chu, he would not use Zheng Guo either.

Before the damn water was completely controlled, the State of Chu was gone.

Lu Buwei showed an expression that said, "Now you understand, sir, right?" and said:

"Li Bing's Dujiangyan used Gun's method.

"They took advantage of the geographical advantages, water veins and water flow of Bashu, mainly using the methods of blocking and intercepting to divert the water flow.

“Most of Gun’s methods only require efforts at key water outlets, and fewer people are needed.

“King Yu’s method was to open roads and divert water, and he employed a great number of people.

“The difference between the two methods of flood control can be simply understood as Gun smashing a gap in an existing road, or blocking half of the road with stones and sand.

"King Yu, on the other hand, originally had no roads, but he dug several, even dozens of roads with human power.

"You can think about the difference yourself, sir.

"...If you insist on using Zheng State, there are sufficient reasons. Bu Wei will help you, but please remember your promise to me."

Even he, the prime minister, can’t handle such a big thing!

　I originally wanted to directly mention that flood control is very difficult, and then write the subsequent plot. But I found that if I don’t make the difficulties of flood control clear, the subsequent plot will be very empty. Brothers may think that the ancients were all fools. Why did they hesitate to do such a good thing as flood control? They will feel that they have lowered their intelligence. So although I know that writing something hardcore will lose subscriptions, I still wrote it for the completeness of the overall plot. Although I am writing about water in this chapter, it is really not water writing! Believe me, I have been working hard to push the plot. I have too many plots to write! I put the unfinished outline directly here, and there are 1000 words! Brothers, please don’t talk about water writing anymore, I’m really going to break my defense. If you are joking, can you please add a dog head... Thank you for the reward of starting coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)